Monday, June 27, 2011

While it is not especially urban, there are a great many people on the Cumberland Plateau who are clearly jedi-like land scouts. Like this woman, Jess Wilson.

I got to go last week with my family and some friends to visit Jess and family at In Town Organics. They are cultivating 3+ acres and running the newly established Cumberland Farmers' Market. The farm is small but dense with green things growing and the family's clever sustainable designs. In addition to produce, the family has turkeys, chickens, bees, rabbits, and two goats (one of whom is too sassy and will be moving on soon). It was a lovely farm and an inspiring set up.

If you find yourself on the Cumberland Plateau this summer, please make a point of stopping by the market and buying some salad mixes, garlic, or herbs. This market is especially web-savvy: you can sign up ahead of time, place an order online, and pick it up at the market. They've got a beautiful list of products.

The evening after I returned from the Grundy County I ran into my friend Elam Blackman. He was talking about heartache and moving to Austin, TX and I blurted out that he should instead take a trip up to the Plateau. It'll cure what ails you, I promised. There's something about it. If you do go, I recommend a visit to the Dutch Maid Bakery for weird liccorice and to the Marugg Company to heft a beautiful old fashioned scythe (both businesses are in Tracy City).

Friday, June 17, 2011

Matt stopped by the Carbon Shredding booth at Bonnaroo and joined our tribe of Urban Land Scouts. He followed up with these nice shots of his garden and claims he "can't wait to get out of the city." Welcome to Land Scouting, Matt.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

We signed up over 70 new Urban Land Scouts at Bonnaroo. We also saw great music, met wonderful people (including our Carbon Shredding booth-mates, the fine folks at Earth Givers), and were able to share ideas, experiences, and plants with some of the Bonnaroo patrons. For example, here's a lovely young scout forming seedbombs to rain down on medians and grass patches around her apartment.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Hello, hello. We've decided to open up our applicant pool for Urban Land Scout Camp to any students living in Knox County who are going into 5th, 6th, or 7th grade. We are also extending our sign-up deadline to June 16th (the same day as the Camp Open House at Beardsley Farm). Please help us spread the word!

You can download an application here to give to potential campers. You can also share that link with this shortened URL: tinyurl.com/ULScampApp .

In case you need a reminder here's a brief summary of the camp:

Camp is available at no cost to campers and parents/guardians

Open to students going into 5th, 6th, and 7th grade

Camp will run for three one-week sessions, Monday through Friday, 7:30 am - 12:30 pm:

Session I July 11th-15thSession II July 18th-22nd Session III July 25th-29th

We will serve breakfast, lunch, and snack

Parents/guardians must transport campers to and from Beardsley Farm (in Mechanicsville)

We will be outdoors most of the time working on earning Urban Land Scout badges, helping with farm chores, and other fun activities

Parents and guardians with questions can be in touch with me (Katie) by phone (235-1730) or by email (passage @ urbanlandscouts . com). Thanks!

The Land Scout's Pledge

I will to the best of my abilitybe a good steward of the land where I liveby cultivating native and edible plants,promoting species diversity,sharing the fruits of my labor and knowledge,and propagating Land Scouting in barren lands.

Join the Land Scouts

While you don't have to join the Land Scouts to practice good stewardship, becoming an official Scout enables you to earn our embroidered patches.

You can read up here about the activities required to earn badges. If you would like to earn a badge, complete the prescribed action, and mail documentation of your experience to katie [at] urbanlandscouts [dot] com. We will send you your badges as well as a pdf form to fill out.